I'm taking machining/casting classes

Well, I got an A in 353 (the CNC class), and a B in 253 (the manufacturing class). I don't even want to know what stupid things he took points off for on my last 253 test, because I felt like I dominated it.. to the point I'd get an A in the class.

Oh well.

I'm graduated and lookin' for a job still.

Congratulations and good luck on the employment front ...

Congrats on graduating ! Welcome to the fun filled world of machine work . Been making "heavier than air" aircraft parts for 32 years , vast majority of it on CNC . Much of it hasn't changed and much has . The only real challenge I have now is learning the newest controller each time we upgrade . Hopefully I will retire in a couple years and can go back to hobby machine work , it's about 1,000 time more fun than production . The saddest part about machine work is that the funner work doesn't pay nearly as well as production . Good luck on the job search .

Back in the early 80s I had a 4-cylinder Citation that swallowed the secondary metering rod in the carb, doing a number on #1 and prompting a full engine rebuild. I didn't want to put the same model carb back on that caused the problem in the first place and I had an old reliable Rochester 2-Jet sitting around, but there was no way to get the carb onto the manifold. No one made an adapter for it, either (go figure). I went to some metal supply place and got a solid block of aluminum, then found a nearby machine shop. I took the carb, the manifold, and the block of aluminum in and talked to the shop foreman about what I wanted. A few days later I had a custom-milled adapter plate, and he even made clearance for the manifold bolts and the throttle bellcrank. Cost me $80 for the machine work, but I'm sure a chunk of that was working out where all the holes and cuts needed to be made. All I had to do then was open up the intake manifold primary bore to match the new adapter. It was probably fun for him to do a one-off, and I got something I needed for a fair price.

are you open to relocating?

Yup.

Most of the aerospace jobs I'm applying for are in California or the east coast. Most of the foundry jobs I'm applying for are in the Ohio area. It's funny, because I live a stones throw (ok, a couple miles) from several St Louis Boeing locations.. and even closer to a few machine shops and even a foundry.. but I'll go where the job is!

PM sent- might not hurt to throw another resume out there...

Crazydrummerdude ; this is my company's employment site . Don't know if you have checked it out or not . Tooling is a better job , but very limited number of personel . I am a spar mill operator , I think they are looking for mill operators currently . Boring with good pay and benifits , also fairly stable at least for now . http://www.boeing.com/careers/jobsEvents.html

I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but I was riding the other day and thinking about the CNC class.

NOT ONCE did the professor mention personal protective equipment. Never a word about safety glasses, steel toes, ear plugs, no loose clothing/jewelry, etc. What a bozo!

Anyways, I finally took some more pics of some of my glass blowing.

The first two had rather messy bottoms, but since they didn't break (and I probably won't be doing this for a while), I kept them:





Then, I made this hollow ball. It was supposed to have a hook on the bottom, but.. it didn't really work out, so it's a nub.



Another paperweight:



Then on to the practical final. The final paperweight:



..and the final open vessel:



I really struggled with the open vessel. I could make them pretty quickly, but the fact that someone was watching and timing me made me nervous. Oh well, I got an A in the class!

I was 4-wheeling in Tennessee this weekend, and when I returned, my diploma in aerospace engineering and my certificate in explosives engineering were waiting for me.

Ooooooo, that could be fun.

If this post doesn't make sense, it's because I edited a lot of it to protect the innocent:

Although I graduated, I've stayed on as the president of a design team at school. This is mostly because I have a conscience and the team is so full of n00bs, that had I left them to their own devices, they would most likely fall apart and not succeed with our annual experiment/flight aboard NASA's vomit comet. Unfortunately, due to internal bureaucracy, I won't get to fly in weightlessness again, but I will go down to Houston with them. Upon my return, I will be DONE. I literally lose sleep almost every night planning/organizing/emailing/worrying about the teams success.

Part of our experiment is a left-over from previous years. There is a vital component/mount that has been modified since our last flight, without my knowledge. So, we need a new one made. I went to an employee at my school for help, and we started talking about my ME353 (CNC class) experience. He took pity on me and reflected most of my own opinions; The ME253/353 professor is only here (and tenured :huh:eek1) because no one else knows the material. Everyone else thinks he's doing a good job. This guy went on to say that after years of encouraging the ME253/353 professor to upgrade to machines and software readily available to him at the university, the professor admitted that he hasn't done so because he would have to change his lecture notes.



For 20 years, the CNC instructor has been resistant to technological advances because he doesn't feel like changing his notes. This school prides itself in "Science & Technology" and this is what we have to show for our CNC prowess.

I'll leave that topic alone for now.

....

On an unrelated note, I took a huge step towards my own backyard foundry today. Maybe that deserves its own thread..

...I can tell ya right here and now, you have too much talent for ...zzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZzzzzzz....

For 20 years, the CNC instructor has been resistant to technological advances because he doesn't feel like changing his notes

I think that many of the Operations guys you will work for will be like that ,or willing to wreck good systems to implement what ever program just blew from his bosses bottom.

Go do the work for 5 years and build up to being on your own .

Best Regards,Ed Flanagan

Hey I've got a clock just like that (except mine says UMR). I made a model of Little Boy (think Hiroshima) for my foam casting. Dr. Askeland didn't think it was too funny. I graduated from Rolla in '00 with an AE and ME and did AIAA presentations for a few years after that when I came back for recruiting at the Career Fairs. If you're interested in DoD work, shoot me a PM. I'm not a hiring weenie, but I know many.

I am about to start a sequel to this thread about my current project that may wind up doing just that.

Yeah, they say no weapons/drug paraphernalia/body parts.. so, what else is left to cast?

I'm a simple AE with a bunch of minors. I thought about doing the ME, too, but by the time I found out about it, the program would have added another year and I was ready to be done.

I actually just started at a company in the AE field today..

The career fairs are a joke these days. Rarely is any company hiring.. and if they are, they just refer prospective employees to their careers website.

Here ya go dude-cast one of the Hella handlebar end signals that are out of production and sell them to guys like me & you.They are in fact a small aluminum casting well suited for your project in size. Also needed is the small bar wedge!The Asians will gladly make the lenses & you'll be crazyrichdudedrummer!

This has been a most interesting thread. Good luck in your pursuits.

I like the way you think, and I probably will cast similar things. Unfortunately, there are already Hella bar end signal knock-offs for quite cheap on ebay.

EDIT: Also, you know, that was the first post of this thread? I ended up casting some stuff.

Thank you.

My last post was on my first day of my current job. With the momentum this thread had, I was sure I was going to land a sweet gig. Well, that's not the case. I am a first shift CNC machinist, and I don't even have a computer. I am not respected, nor am I allowed to have any input. My bosses are high school drop outs. I spend probably 6 hours every week applying to different jobs all over the country and world, and every single interview I score, I am looked down on because I have hands on, machine tool experience. That apparently makes me less of an engineer than my peers who don't even know what a Phillips screw driver is. I have a dregee, 3 minors, scholarships/grants, a ton of hands on experience, I did two years of undergrad research.... but they see me as a blue collar mechanic, not worthy of the title "engineer." At best, maybe a "Tech."

So, I'm making my own gig. Like I said before, a sequel to this thread will be posted soon, and we'll really start having some fun.

Also, I just registered to take the GRE (the test you need to get into grad school). If I can't find a good job this year, I'll go back to school.

hmmm... give me a call to discuss dude. you have my number in an old pm.

without knowing how your interviews are actually going, i'd guess the situation you describe isn't what's actually happening. engineers (and engineering managers) won't typically look down on an engineering major with hands on experience- they'll welcome it. what i would be worried about is that they're picking up on your "my peers who don't even know what a phillips screw driver is" attitude. that's certainly some engineers, but you don't know if they're your competition or not for any given job, and believe it or not, there are many engineers who would put your skills to shame, and their specific 'blue collar' skills may be a lot more relevant to the jobs you're applying for, even without a screwdriver being involved.

I completely see where you're coming from, but I do think I am successful at avoiding any negative thoughts/feelings/topics in my interviews. Yet, I am honest and I will have to defend myself and say that just the last three interviews I've had, the manager did specifically brush me off because of my hands-on skills; acting as if that's all I've got to offer and it isn't good enough. Two of those interviews were cold-calls where a recruiter tossed a manager a resume; both of which were to engineering liaison positions with little hands-on work.

Edit: I did say "every single" and I was being a bit dramatic. There was one exception - an interview for a summer internship. I got the internship because I was an engineer with hands-on experience. If they offered me a full-time position today, I'd probably accept it. But, it was quite unique, and the position doesn't exist.

I completely believe and do agree. There are engineers here that would do laps around any "blue collar" skill I might currently have, and there are mechanics who could design and engineer something to the same degree above my skillset. There are people in their own fields that would put me to shame in any of my own fields... and two of the smartest engineers and probably best mechanics I've ever met don't have a college diploma. I'm nothing to write home about!

The problem I currently have is, for entry-level positions to which I apply, I feel that I should have a decent leg-up on my entry-level peers... but I'm still stuck in my current job, with all engineering skills that I might currently possess delegated to the faaarrrr back burner, and any "blue collar" skills barely put to use. This has been stressing me out a lot lately, so I've been whining/ranting probably a little too much. I'm even starting to annoy myself!

Things could be far worse, though. I am thankful for my health, my projects, and the fact that I do have a job. I just used advrider to vent a little. This will hopefully be the end of my whining.